Inmates beautify region

The grounds of Holden Baptist Church are tended to by an inmate.
Joyce Roberts photo The grounds and walkways at St. Francis Church were swept clean, overgrown bushes trimmed back, and heaving brick walkways firmly tamped into place last week.

The cleanup was accomplished by a work crew from the Worcester House of Correction, half a dozen men neatly attired in jeans, light blue work shirts and heavy boots, looking just like any other landscape crew. Only a discreet sign in front of the church identifies this as a Sheriff’s department work crew.

On Friday, Worcester County Sheriff Lew Evangelidis paid the crew an early morning visit, calling the program, which loans inmates to non-profit organizations “the biggest win-win I have ever seen in my political life.”

The program contributes to inmates’ rehabilitation, and inmates are grateful for the opportunity to be in it, he explained.

“It offers them dignity and a sense of purpose,” he said, as well as lowering the recidivism rate.

All program participants are non-violent, non-sex offenders who are considered to be safe inmates. They are just weeks away from their release date. One of the inmates at the church worked on Monday and Tuesday – on Wednesday, he was released.

In his first week in office, Evangelidis sent out 3,200 letters to non-profits in Worcester County offering the work crew service. Replies came back by the hundreds.

“The secretary who had been there for three administrations said she had never seen so many replies come in,” he said.

The work crews have been sent to stock food pantries, clean Holden Baptist Church, rebuild the Joe Schwartz Little League field in Worcester, paint fences on Sterling Common and work at NEADS, the service animal trainer, in Princeton.

The only provisions for the job are that it may not endanger an inmate and the host must provide lunch. The crews complete each project in about a week, and at St. Francis, church volunteers found they were comfortable with their presence.

“People were a little bit nervous at first, but by the end of the week, it was ‘Hey, Hector!’ Everyone was so impressed with their work,” the Rev. Richard Simpson said.

Two rainy days brought the crew inside to paint the parish hall and when fair weather returned, the men had time to rake some stone dust onto the Youth Group’s new meditation labyrinth, a much appreciated finishing touch.

Members of the congregation turned out daily to prepare lunch. Parishioner Sam Davenport called it “a heck of a program.”

“We had six guys really putting in a good day’s work. They were nice guys and fun to work with,” he said.

Corrections officer Mike Mastrorio supervised the crew all week. One of the advantages of the program is that inmates can leave with a work skill they didn’t have, he said. Inmates see what they have to do and do it, receiving on the job training.

At St. Francis Church, the work crew’s efforts were accepted with gratitude.

“We would do this again in a heartbeat. For us as a parish, it’s been a very positive experience,” Rev. Simpson said.